


The Convention {Sequel to Cringemas Antisepticeye}

by jackmarkdanphil2003



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Conventions, Darkiplier - Freeform, Horror, Pax - Freeform, antisepticeye
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2018-11-14 12:49:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11208435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackmarkdanphil2003/pseuds/jackmarkdanphil2003
Summary: After Jack vanished everyone knew their lives would forever be changed.But now everyone around them suddenly seems to believe that he never left?What happened to Jack exactly?Where is he now?And, possibly the most important question of them all, how do they get him back?





	1. I Missed You

**Author's Note:**

> IIIIIIIII'MMMMM BAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCKKKKKKK

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pj and Emma reunited.  
> Felix finds disturbing news and shares with Mark...  
> Enjoy :)

Clinging on for dear life as they were surrounded by what looked like a cloud of static, Jack looked at the man who resembled his friend and for the first time in what felt like forever he felt something; true, unbridled fear.

“Where are we going?” Jack asked but his voice was drowned out by the sudden high pitched, ear piercing ringing that echoed throughout his head.

Wanting to put his hands over his ears to try and block out the sound, Jack instinctively let go of the man and began to scream as he fell.

He was stopped abruptly by a strong pair of arms that caught him. Somehow, even without being able to hear it, he could tell that the man had chuckled.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pj knocked on the door to Emma’s house, slightly nervous about what they were going to do.

For the first time since… the incident, Emma was willing to appear on YouTube again. Since Pj was the one who had convinced her to do this after a lengthy phone call, they had decided on collabing together.

The door opened and at seeing Emma’s face, Pj could feel all the memories of last time he had seen her flood back.

_“Are you sure you’ll be fine?” Emma asked, holding Pj’s arm and looking him dead in the eyes._

_Pj ignored the pain in his leg that had just been stitched up and his hip where the knife had thankfully managed to avoid anything important. Deciding on not worrying his friend, Pj nodded before smiling faintly. “Y-Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Pj said “It’s only a matter of time before it fades to the back of my mind.”_

Emma’s eyes widened and Pj assumed that she was experiencing something similar to him.

Wordlessly, the two wrapped their arms around each other and squeezed tightly.

“I’m sorry that I waited so long to see you in person again,” Pj said “You were so strong throughout this whole thing; you shouldn’t have to be alone in having those memories.”

Emma felt her eyes welling up but she refused to let their first encounter after about four months.

It didn’t seem like that might be too long, but when you are one of the only ones who went through a paranormal experience and you know that if you were to be honest about what happened with anyone but someone who was there, you’d be deemed crazy as the man himself.

Releasing their tight grip, Pj entered Emma’s apartment, laughing about how they were acting as if they hadn’t seen one another in years.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Walking into his living room, Felix sighed deeply. Today was the day he was supposed to receive the scheduling for PAX and he was really not looking forward to attending anything.

Taking a sip of coffee, he grabbed his laptop and powered it up. After it had powered up, Felix opened up his email with as sigh. The only issue he had with attending PAX was that this would be the first convention of any kind that he had attended since… then.

Checking what was scheduled, Felix found himself double take and gasp in surprise before dropping his cup of coffee. There on the computer screen was the thing that led to the hell of the next few weeks; Jacksepticeye solo panel.

Quickly shooting out of his chair, Felix ran to his and his girlfriend’s room to wake up Marzia and let her know so that they could inform the others.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mark woke up to the sound of his phone ringing with the song Fabulous by Roomie.

“What in the world?” asked a very groggy Amy from next to him, “Who would be calling you this early?”

Rubbing his eyes, Mark accepted the phone call and put it on speaker.

“This better be fucking important if you’re waking me up at 3:00 am.” Mark said, slightly frustrated at his friend.

“Trust me; this is worth waking up for.” Felix said. “Check your email, right now”

Mark raised an eyebrow and when a moment of silence passed, Felix repeated himself.

“Fine” Mark grumbled childishly, going to check his email.

When he saw and email from PAX, he opened it up and after a moment of reading he threw his phone across the room.

“Mark? What’s wrong?” Amy asked, sounding concerned.

“N-nothing…” Mark stuttered, pulling at his hair. “Nothing at all”

Getting up, Mark picked up his phone off the floor and left the room. “Felix. Tell me everything right now.”

“I’m just as clueless as you Mark,” Felix said “All I know is that we have to be there; it’s not even a question now.”

“I completely agree, whether we like it or not, we may be the only chance some of these fans may have at salvation.” Mark said quietly, so as to not wake up Tyler, Ethan or Katherine.

“Oh shit” Mark muttered, realizing what had to be done now.

“What’s up?” Felix asked

“Well, Amy and my other friends don’t really know about this and they’re supposed to come with me.” Mark said

“That is a problem…” Felix muttered

“Well, I guess I’ll bring them, but we will probably end up lying to them a lot about our whereabouts.”  Mark said, once again pulling at his hair from stress.

“Alright, see you in a few days?” Felix said, attempting to lighten the mood a slight bit.

“Yeah, I’ll see you then. We’ll meet up a week before PAX just to be sure we have a plan.” Mark said.

“Sounds good to me” Felix replied before they both said their goodbye’s and hung up.

“God DAMN IT!” Mark exclaimed, throwing his phone at the wall before sliding down against the wall, biting his hand to try and suppress any screams as all the vivid memories of what the last time he had seen his ‘friend’ had been like.

He had gotten healed for the most part back in London and then returned home wearing long sleeves and long pants.

His friends were none the wiser and he liked it that way.

Now though, now he had no choice but to put them in harm’s way.

Finally opening his eyes, he saw Amy standing in front of him with a panicked look on her face and trying to pry his hand from his mouth.

Removing it from his mouth, Mark saw that he had bitten hard enough that the skin had broken and his hand had blood leaking from it.

_He grinned, that sick twisted grin of his, before looking at his hand that was pressed up against the wall._

_Looking Mark straight in the eyes, he stabbed the knife through Mark’s hand, pinning him to the wall._

Mark blinked and shook his head before he turned to look at Amy who had never witnessed a scene like this. Chuckling at how much she was scared of this when he had had much worse; he pulled her forward and planted a kiss on her head.

“I’m fine Amy.” Mark murmured.

Looking at Mark with eyes full of confusion and sadness, Amy nodded slowly and stood up, leaving the room to get the first aid kit.


	2. Phone Calls

Emma and Pj were just about to hit record when both of their phones went off at the same time. Looking to one another in confusion, they checked who was calling.

Mark was calling Pj and Felix was calling Emma. Once again looking to one another in confusion, the duo answered the phones.

“Hello?” they both greeted at the same time

“Hi! Umm… so, how do I put this?” Felix said to Pj “So… you have to come to Boston on Monday.”

Confused, Pj replied “What? Why?” looking over at Emma he saw a similar expression of confusion on her face as she spoke to Mark.

“We checked the schedule and Jack is going to be there” Felix said quietly.

“WHAT!?” both he and Emma exclaimed in unison.

“How is that possible? I thought that he was locked away in prison!?” Pj shouted.

“Apparently not” Felix said.

Emma felt her heart sink. Just as she had thought originally; no prison would be able to hold a fucking DEMON for long.

Sighing and rubbing her temples, Emma arranged plans for staying in Boston with the group.

Once she was done she hung up and turned to Pj who had hung up only a minute before her.

“So… let’s take a rain check on that video, shall we?” Pj said.

Emma let out a half hearted laugh, running a hand through her hair she nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, let’s just… let’s just hang out for now,” Emma said looking up at Pj “Is that okay?”

Pj smiled at Emma and nodded “Yeah, I think we could both use it.”

Smiling, Emma got up and grabbed a few beers “I think we may also be need these!” she said, shaking the beers before tossing one to Pj.

With a smile, he opened up his can and took a swig.

Sighing, Pj smiled at Emma “Yeah, we could certainly use it”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The mysterious man tapped Jack on the shoulder to see if he would respond. Chuckling when he didn’t he said ~~**“We’ve reached our destination. Get up”**~~

Jack slowly opened his eyes and stood up. When the man noticed the eye patch, he tilted his head as if asking how it had happened. Jack just shook his head and backed away. The man rolled his eyes and was suddenly right in front of him.

Jack was terrified as he placed a hand over his missing eye. For a moment, nothing happened. Then as quickly as he had appeared in front of Jack, he ripped off the eye patch and put his fingers in the empty eye socket.

That’s when, understandably,  the unbelievable pain began. The ringing sounds volume was inconceivably loud, but he was incapable of moving away from the man’s touch, which he was sure was the cause of it. Not to mention how it made his head pound and his eye began to bleed again.

As quickly as he had started this, he removed his hand. It took a moment but suddenly Jack realized that his empty eye socket felt… strange. Blinking, he realized that what was odd was that he could see with both eyes again.

Shocked, Jack stood staring at this odd man. Then he tried to run and hug him instinctively. Jack was thrown to the ground then; the ringing still in his ears and now intensifying.

~~**_“WHERE IS HE!?”_** ~~ the doppelganger of Mark shrieked before picking Jack up by the neck and throwing him once more ~~**_“Where is Anti?”_**~~

He was now slowly approaching Jack who was moaning in pain. The man straightened out his suit and his tie before crouching down in front of Jack with an unsettling calm aura about him.

**_“I’m sorry, we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot…”_** the man said in a soothing tone. The unsettling thing was the fact that his voice seemed to have an echo to it; one that sounded frighteningly similar to Mark and two distorted, unsettling layers to it.

The man stood up and placed his hands behind his back, leaning forward and looking down at Jack who had now pulled himself up into a sitting position.

**_“I don’t believe I have introduced myself; my name is Darkiplier, Dark for short.”_** He said.

Jack just stared up at him, breathing heavily and a blank expression on his face.

**_“Surely-“_** Dark said with a more angry tone to his voice and suddenly, right in front of his eyes, three static figures that were almost like reflection of some sort, appeared behind Dark.

**_“Surely you must have something to say for yourself?”_** Dark said, raising an eyebrow **“ _A simple thank you would be nice.”_** He continued with the aggression seeping back into his voice.

Suddenly, he was right next to Jack and he smashed his face into the ground **_~~“I FUCKING SAVED YOU, SHOW ME SOME RESPECT”~~_** he shouted before suddenly, the pressure holding him down vanished and Jack pulled himself up to see Dark right in front of him as if nothing had happened.

**_“I need you to do something for me…”_** Dark said the ringing intensifying. **_“I need you to let him out.”_**

Jack blinked at him, face still remaining expressionless.

_“L̅̎̉̔̀̔_ _͛_ _̢̈_ _͙͞_ _̝̭̹̘_ _͔_ _E_ _͌͊͒_ _̈́̈́_ _͚͆ͪ_ _̞_ _͇_ _̩̩̯T_ _͊ͥ_ _̐̅_ _ͫͬ_ _̆_ _͖ͦ͢͜_ _ͦͪ_ _̂̋_ _͚_ _̰M_ _ͧ_ _̿_ _͟_ _̞̲̥̝̗E_ _̓ͭ͆ͩ͊_ _̽̐_ _͆_ _̡_ _҉_ __ _͍_ _̯_ _͙_ _̬_ _͎_ _̪̙̯_ _͔_ _́̐̏_ _ͦ_ _̐̏_ _͐͠_ _̤̬̩̫_ _͚_ _̬̤̬O̲̓̈́̍̂̽̊_ _͍_ _̺̞̹̠_ _͈_ _̗Ư̦̘̊̿̇̈́̆_ _͈_ _̺T̀_ _͂_ _̸̢̲̹̮̬_ _͈_ _̖̱ ̔̉_ _͆_ _̿_ _͗͞_ _̭̬̬_ _͔_ _Y̡̍̆̆_ _͇_ _̪̗_ _͈_ _̝̥̘_ _͈_ _O_ _ͧ_ _̇_ _ͫ_ _̵̢̬̻̰U_ _͎ͬ͒_ _̤̩̳̫̞_ _ͭͣͬ_ _̨ͅ_ _͇_ _̝̫̣̫ͅS_ _͗ͯ͆͠_ _̧̧̤̞̗̞̹O̚_ _ͤͮͫ͋_ _̨̘̼̗̲̱N̓̋̍_ _ͨ_ _̏_ _ͬ͡_ _̭_ _͇͖͓_ _͐͑͏_ _̳̗̱̕_ _͔_ _Ỏ_ _ͭ͒ͤ_ _̸̐́_ _͘_ _̦_ _͉͉_ _̠̫̱̼̤F_ _͌_ _̴̴̻̮̯̰ ̈́_ _ͦ_ _̈́̿̃̓_ _ͩ_ _̸̧_ _͇_ _̯_ _͇_ _̥̤A_ _͋͆_ _̆̋̋̒_ _҉_ _̭_ _͓_ _̏_ _ͭ_ _̾̄_ _ͭͨ_ _̖_ _͇_ _̖B_ _͑ͪ͏͙_ _̳I_ _ͬ_ _̆̍_ _ͯ_ _̷̳̝̱̫̏_ _͈_ _̭_ _͉_ _̤T_ _ͩͫͦ͌͋_ _̀̉_ _͢_ _̡̼_ _͔_ _̭̲̭̱̖̯C̈_ _̓_ _̈́_ _ͩ͛_ _̆_ _͠_ _̢_ _҉_ _̜̳_ _͖_ _̤̖H_ _ͣ_ _̾_ _͊_ _̍̈́_ _ͬ_ _̍_ _҉͜_ _̫̦̜̘ͅ_ _͈_ _̞̬”_ Anti screamed suddenly from withing the depths of his mind.

With the combination of the ringing, the fear for his life and the pain he was experiencing, Jack felt himself let go of control. After blinking once, he found himself back in that cursed room with the TV screen.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After he had grabbed his phone which had miraculously survived being thrown twice, he placed it on the floor next to him as his girlfriend, Amy, walked back into the room with the first aid kit.

With a sad smile, she disinfected Mark’s hand and then wrapped it in gauze.

Once she was done she sat cross legged on the floor in front of him “Mark,” she said timidly “You know you can tell me anything, right?” Mark felt his heart break a little at the sadness in her voice.

“No matter what, I won’t judge you” She said, her eyes welling up with tears “I love you, you know that, right?” she finished, looking up from down at her lap and searching his eyes desperate for something. With a small smile, Mark leaned forward and kissed her.

“Of course I trust you,” Mark said as he pulled away “and yes, I love you too; but this one time? You can’t know about it” he said sadly “You’re going to have to trust me when I say that for now, it’s better to be left in the dark.”

Amy seemed to be battling internally with herself before she finally nodded and smiled. “I trust you Mark.”

“Good,” Mark said “I’m going to need everyone to meet up in the living room so I can talk to them when they get up, just so you’re aware, okay?”

Amy seemed confused but decided against questioning the situation since Mark seemed to be extremely and abnormally sensitive right now. Whatever it was that Felix had called to tell him, he had caused quite a reaction and Mark hadn’t been the same in the first place since… forever ago.

With a sigh, Amy decided to go and try to sleep for another hour or two at least. Trying to keep thoughts of Marks abnormal behavior at bay was tiring and so Amy did fall asleep rather quickly.


	3. Plane Tickets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has to book their flight to Boston and Mark realizes that not everything can stay under wraps forever...

“Okay guys,” Mark said walking into the living room “I swear this is actually important and I didn’t call you guys in here for some bullshit reason.”

“I find that hard to believe” Ethan murmured, making Tyler laugh.

When Mark flashed them both a stern look, they quieted down. “Look, I know that we all are supposed to go to PAX in two weeks, right?” he began, running his fingers through his hair “Well, we have to move up the date we leave by a week.”

“What? Why?” Tyler asked, speaking for everyone.

Mark knew that Tyler didn’t mean to do it but by asking him why they did have to leave so much earlier, Mark was launched back into memories.

**_“HAHAHAHAHAHAH!”_ ** _Anti’s ear piercing laugh rang throughout the room as Mark backed away, desperately trying to map out any possible escape routes but drawing a blank every time._

**_“You can’t get rid of me Mark”_ ** _Anti said joyfully before he reached out a hand and somehow with some unseen force, Mark was on his back on the ground. Anti straddled his waist and smirked down at the terrified Mark._

_Anti raised his dagger high above Mark’s arm and the plunged down into the flesh. Leaving it there, Anti summoned another knife and repeated the process for all along his arms and legs. Finally he summoned one more dagger and smirked grotesquely as he lifted the dagger high into the air. **“Time to SAY GOOD…”** the sound of pots and pans clanging got his attention. He got off of Mark and gave him a smile **“Don’t you worry,** _**_i'̳̗̻_** ** _͖_** ** _̤_** ** _͇_** ** _l_** ** _͜_** ** _̥_** ** _͈_** ** _̳̤_** ** _͎_** ** _l̯̰̼̤̦̜_** ** _͖͇_** ** _̞b̻̮̫e_** ** _͍_** ** _̙_** ** _͝_** ** _̝̲̪_** ** _͍_** ** _̯b_** ** _͎_** ** _̝̼a_** ** _͍_** ** _̜ck ̸l_** ** _͘_** ** _̳̹̱̩̲a̪̜̲t̻̥̩̗̟̩_** ** _͓_** ** _e̴̬̺r_** ** _͝_** ** _̪̝_** ** _͙_** ** _̳”_** _he said before dashing out of the room after his friends._

Once again, he was shaken out of the memory by Amy shaking his arm. As he regained his senses of the world around him, he saw Ethan and Tyler were looking at him in shock and Amy was hunched over him, looking more scared than ever. Katherine was nowhere to be seen.

“What happened this time?” Mark asked weakly as he sat up. Suddenly to his horror he realized he couldn't feel the sensation of fabric on his arms like it had been for the last few months. He didn’t have his long sleeved shirt on anymore. Face paling, Mark shot up from his seated position on the floor and looked at his friends.

“What happened?” He repeated, more firmly.

“Y-you suddenly started screaming and then you started scratching at your hand so much that you started bleeding again,” Amy said in a panic “and then before we could stop you, you started scratching at your arms and once I saw that those had started to bleed too I made Tyler pin you down so we could remove your shirt and treat the wound but…”

Amy looked up at him with wide glassy eyes “Mark, it’s not even a question anymore. We need to know what happened on that trip.”

Mark’s eyes widened and he began to back away “I can’t talk about it”

“Who says so!?” Ethan exclaimed as he approached his friend

“IT’S NONE OF YOUR GODAMN BUSINESS!” Mark bellowed.

Katherine re entered the room with a wet wash cloth. Looking at Mark and everyone else’s faces, she slowly backed out of the room.

Sensing that he was on the verge of breaking down again, Amy moved forward and hugged him.  Taking a deep breath, Mark calmed down. “Look, I know this doesn’t make much sense but I need you guys to trust me when I say I know what I’m doing.” Mark said, desperate for them to understand “I can’t tell you what happened or why or anything. It’s for your own safety that you don’t know anything but what you need to know.”

The group exchanged looks before they all silently agreed. Mark was nothing but kind and honest all the time. If he couldn’t tell them this, then there was probably a good reason.

“Of course we will Mark, right guys?” Amy said

“Sure” Tyler said shrugging and smiling slightly at Mark.

“Alright, fine” Ethan said “But you better be okay Mark or else I’m going to be pissed”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mark smiled at his friends. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all?

“Marzia?” Felix asked, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend.

“Yes Felix?” Marzia asked with a sad yet content tone.

“You know that I’ll keep you safe, right?” he whispered in her ear.

“I know that” Marzia said with a sigh

“If you want to stay home you ca-“Felix began, bringing up the same point he had made about 50 times so far in that hour.

“Felix, for the last time, all of us are going, okay?” Marzia said sternly “I know that everyone needs all the moral support that they can get.”

Felix sighed but conceded, realizing that Marzia wasn’t going to be changing her mind anytime soon.

“Okay!” she exclaimed, turning around “Bag is all packed.”

Felix nodded and grabbed Marzia’s hand, bringing her to his computer desk so that they could get plane tickets for the 26th of February.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emma drank another bottle of beer as her and Pj talked about how much their lives’ had been filled with dread since the incident.

After a few hours of chatting, Pj deemed himself too drunk to drive and slept on the couch that night. Emma ended up waking up early with a hangover. After vomiting in the bathroom, Emma felt like shit so she knew she wouldn’t be falling asleep again anytime soon.

Since she was up she decided to book her and Pj’s plane tickets. Maybe they’d even get better seats if they booked them now? A moment after Emma had confirmed the flight, Pj awoke with a groan next to her on the couch and Emma laughed before getting up and going to the kitchen.

 She returned, handing him some Advil and a glass of water. “Medication for you” Emma said.

As Pj took the pills, Emma said “I booked our plane tickets by the way.”

Pj thanked her and stood up “So, hate to be rude but what’s for breakfast?” Pj asked.

“Toast and eggs sound good?” Emma asked to which Pj nodded.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**_“Ahhhh, Anti.”_** Dark greeted him with a grin **_“Nice to meet you, I’ve heard many things, all of them great.”_**

Anti smirked and stood up **_“So, by passing the formalities here, what the fuck do you want from me?”_**

Dark smirked at his new friends eagerness and replied saying **_“You’ll see but trust me on this, I’ll make it worth your while.”_**

Hesitating for a moment, Anti thought about what could happen here. He could get injured, sure, but really all he wanted at this point was to do something.

Anti nodded with a grin **_“I like how this sounds… you’ve got me.”_** Anti said reaching a hand forward to shake **_“I’m in for whatever it is you’ve set up. It’s bound to be… interesting.”_**

Dark smiled and shook his hand. **_“Looking forward to this adventure with you, my friend”_**

**_“I wouldn’t go as far as to say that…”_** Anti muttered to himself as he pulled his hand away.

In the end, that's what he was made to do, wasn't it?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the end, this is what he was made to do, wasn’t it?   
> To wreak havoc on society as a whole?   
> Even if he wanted to curl up in a corner somewhere, something within him compelled him to move forward and he hated himself for it.   
> No, that wasn’t true; he hated who had made him this way.  
> The one law that he was supposed to abide by that he didn’t was when it came to Jack. Hating him, trying to hurt him, he’d done that originally. But seeing the Irish mans kind heart made him hope that maybe one day he would be free like he was.  
> However, he still had to treat him horribly to his face, which would never change. The only thing he could do to compensate was to work behind the scenes, ensure that no one would touch him aside from himself.  
> It was odd to care at all but he did and that was the one thing that gave him any hope for himself. Of course, he would never say this to anyone.


	4. Preparations for Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is getting ready to leave for Boston, unaware of the fact that someone else is as well.  
> Anti and Dark work things out and we get a little insight on Anti and Jack's relationship

“Only one day until we leave now” Felix said somberly, stroking Marzia’s hair as the laid together on the couch. “Are you sure-“

Marzia quickly turned her head to look at him and Felix immediately backtracked. Sitting up and looking away from her he quickly said “Never mind.” quietly, making Marzia giggle.

“It’s okay, you’re just concerned.” She said with a loving tone “I can understand why you’re on edge,” taking Felix’s hands into her own, Marzia looked into her boyfriends eyes and confessed “I’m scared too.” Looking back down at their conjoined hands, she firmly said “But this is something that we have to do.”

Felix tucked Marzia’s hair behind her ear and gave her a kiss. “Alright, I know.”

“We’ll get through this together, okay?” Marzia said.

Felix smiled at her optimism and leaned in to give her another kiss. “Okay”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mark ran into his room as soon as he was sure things were cool between him and his friends.

He felt horrible about not telling the whole story to them but did he really have a choice?

Immediately pulling on a long sleeved shirt, Mark then pulled out a suitcase and began packing for the few weeks he would be away all the while swearing to himself that after this it would once again go back to absolute 100% honesty between them.

Lost in his thoughts, Mark didn’t notice Amy walk into the room with a suitcase until she placed it next to his own. “I told everyone to start packing for the trip.” She told him, Mark nodded in response.

He could immediately tell she was about to ask him about how he was feeling again so he slapped a fake smile onto his face. “Thank you Amy” he said happily.

Mark was pretty sure that Amy could tell how fake his smile was but much to his gratitude, she didn’t point it out.

“We leave for Boston on Sunday, right?” Amy asked, trying to make conversation to lessen the awkward aura engulfing the room.

“Yeah, tomorrow,” Mark replied “why do you ask?”

Biting her lip anxiously and hoping this wouldn’t be a sensitive question, Amy asked “How long are we going to be gone for?”

Mark paused for a moment but resumed his packing as he replied saying “As long as this will take but at least not until after PAX”

Amy would ask for more detail but knowing the fragile state Mark was in, she let it go for now. “Okay, that’s fine.”

Mark smiled at how lenient Amy was being for his sake “Thank you for this” he said quietly

“It’s no problem,” Amy replied “I know it’s what you need to do.”

His only reply was a loving kiss before he resumed with his packing. Yeah, this trip defiantly wouldn’t be that bad after all. As long as he had all the ones he loved most there, Mark knew he could do anything.

Maybe even conquer a demon and get his friend back…

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pj had left Emma’s house at around 11:00 am after they had had a light breakfast and chatted for a bit about random stuff in their lives.

As soon as he had gotten home, Pj had started trying to locate his suitcase.  Finally, after a long search he found the bag and began to pack up his things.

The only thing that made him stop for a second was realizing that he would need an excuse as to why he went to PAX since he normally avoided these kinds of events.

Deciding on filming a few videos and handling it when he got back, Pj finished up with his packing.

Emma had enjoyed her breakfast with Pj. After he had left, she had started going around and picking up the empty beer bottles from the other night.

They had had a lot to drink, which was understandable after hearing the news that they had heard.

It was like the world was getting all fucked up again. There was nothing Emma hated more than optimism that blinded from facing their problems but in this case she decided that an exception could be made.

 _“Everything is going to be okay, you’ll get to see your friends again and then you’ll get Jack back”_ she thought to herself.

Sighing at how annoying this whole ordeal was, Emma pulled out her suitcase and began to pack for the next few weeks.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dark sat at a fancy dinner table, that he had summoned out of thin air with only a snap of his fingers, across from Anti.

 ** _“So, what’s your plan?”_** Anti asked as he ate some of the garlic bread on the table. **_“Great food by the way.”_**

 ** _“My plan is to conquer, sound interesting?”_** Dark asked

 ** _“Well, go on then!”_** Anti exclaimed after a moment of silence, growing impatient with this demons cryptic speech patterns and his air of mystery.

 ** _“I modified a few things in your world so that Jack would be able to attend PAX without questioning.”_** Dark said, reaching forward for a bread stick himself **_“And you are correct, these are quite good.”_**

Once again expecting him to continue, Anti waited. When he didn’t say anything he rolled his eyes and slammed his hands down on the table **_“TALK!”_**  he exclaimed in irritation **_“What did you do to my- I mean his world?”_**

Either Dark didn’t notice or didn’t care about the slip up because he proceeded to answer the question regardless. ** _“I left the memories of Jack’s friends intact so that they are scared, just because.”_** He said with a smirk.

Undoubtedly at the thought of Jack’s friends being terrified Jack. _‘Sick bastard’_ Anti thought silently to himself

 ** _“His channel now has videos for the last few months he was gone posted, as if nothing happened. As soon as that panel starts, we start to break Jack and Mark down, take their places and then as soon as we know for sure that we can,”_** Dark paused, leaning forward **_~~“We kill them.”~~_**

Anti looked at Dark and felt a slight panic arise. He may be a horrible human-…demon… but he didn’t want Jack to die at all. Sure, he may torture the guy and stuff but Jack had been there with his since the start of his journey.

Not to mention, torturing and murdering were just in his nature, whether he liked it or not. It was better to learn to over it rather than hate it because he would be doing this either way. Keeping himself composed externally, Anti said **_“We can’t just kill them ya know, if he dies I’ll die!”_**

 ** _“But have you separated yourself from him and become a separate being like I have?”_** Dark asked Anti rhetorically. **_“I’ve been in this game FAR longer than you.”_**

Anti really wanted to slap that smug smile off the man’s face but instead he just clenched his fists and took a deep breath. There was no point in fighting this man. If he did, he was sure that he would be dead within the hour and that was definitely a lose-lose situation for everyone. There was no way to get everything turning up in his favor in this, but he could probably bargain a bit.

 ** _“Alright, I’ll tell you what.”_** Anti said, looking up from his lap now having cooled down a bit **_“I’ll work with you, but on one condition”_**

Dark struggled to keep his calm demeanor intact at this point but somehow he managed to not reveal the joy he felt at that comment in anything other than a slight twitch of the corner of his mouth.

**_“What are your conditions?”_ **

**_“I want to make sure that we terrorize the fans. No holding back, torment them and break them down.”_** Anti said, dead serious **_“But I don’t want to lay a finger on Jack, okay? I have my reasons but I’m not sharing.”_** Anti thought for a moment before continuing **_“And as for his friends? Do what ya want, I don’t really care. Just make sure that it doesn’t severely mentally damage Jack or hurt him”_**

Dark allowed himself to smirk slightly before chuckling **_“I won’t ask for any explanation until you wish to provide me with one.”_** Dark said surprisingly gently

 ** _“I must admit, I’m quite elated that you are exactly as I hoped you would be.”_** He seemed to get lost in his thought for a moment before he turned and looked at Anti once more.

 ** _“I will not harm a hair upon the man’s head if that’s what needs to be done to obtain your assistance.”_** He said kindly making Anti’s skin crawl with uneasiness.

 ** _“Overall, I must admit, I like the way you think my friend.”_** He said extending his arm to shake hands.

Anti accepted and Dark chuckled. **_“Good to have you on board.”_**

 ** _“Okay, the first step is to hold my hand.”_** Dark said making Anti do a double take at the comment

**_“What?”_ **

**_“Take my hand; it will be the only thing that anchors you to here while we send Jack back so that he can gain people’s trust again.”_ **

**_“Well, the little runt is going to run to his friends isn’t he?”_** Anti interjected **_“That wouldn’t work out well for us.”_**

 ** _“I’ m aware, that is why we will now erase all memory of us temporarily.”_** Dark said proudly.

Anti smiled at Dark’s thinking ahead. **_“Nice one!”_**  He exclaimed before he closed his eyes and entered the room of Jack’s mind.

**_“Jack?”_ **

**_\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_ **

Jack was huddled up in the corner of his own mind, sleeping but he was awoken by the sound of Anti calling his name.

Looking to him, Anti smiled unnaturally innocently.

The last time he had seen this side of him was-

_Jack was locked within his own mind, unable to escape. He observed as his own body curled up with blood soaked hands in front of his face. He seemed to be staring at them._

_Suddenly, tears made of a black liquid began to trickle down his face. Anti sat up and wiped the tears away the best he could with bloody, clawed hands. Reaching out into some unknown void, he pulled out a tiny music box and placed it on the floor in front of him._

_It began to spin, playing a sad little melody as Anti stared at it with stolen eyes. He then let himself fall over and he curled up, watching the little heart with a dagger through it spin._

_Staying there, just watching it, calmed him. It reminded him of what he had been before he became… this._

_Jack sat in front of the screen allowing him to see the real world and smiled softly. Biting his lip, Jack bowed his head and allowed the sobs to start wracking his body._

_Hearing Jack, Anti smiled softly at not being alone and knowing that someone was suffering as much as he was. **“Hey, Jack?”** Anti softly whispered into the night, knowing that he would be heard._

_Startled by the soft tone of the demon’s voice, Jack replied with a simple “Yes?”_

**_“I… I don’t want to hurt you, I hope you know that. I’m doing what I need to do… what I was created to do… but I don’t want to directly hurt you. Understand?”_ **

_Jack was shocked into silence by this but after a moment he smiled. “Th-thank you. It means a lot to know that much…” Jack replied._

_Anti smiled and felt his eyes start to droop. Finally, he surrendered and allowed himself to fall asleep._

 

 ** _“Come with me, it’s time to go.”_** He said, grabbing Jack’s hand

“What? What are you talking about?” Jack said, yanking his hand away.

 ** _“I’m setting you free.”_** Anti said, looking slightly guilty.

Jack became too happy at the idea of regaining his freedom to think logically. If he had been thinking straight he would have been able to immediately tell that something major was off about this.

In this mindset however, grabbing Anti’s hand and following him along happily, it all seemed so natural. Jack thought about how his life would now go back to normal, not thinking about how unlikely that was.

Jack blinked and next thing he knew a wave of pain shot through his mind. It felt like someone had grabbed either half and was tearing it apart.

Shrieking at the sudden and intense pain, Jack fell to his knees, faintly hearing Anti do the same next to him.

Opening his eyes after the worst of the pain had passed, Jack saw that Dark was in front of him.

Crouching down to be face to face with Jack, Dark smirked before saying **_“Let’s send you home, shall we?”_**

A sense of dread washed over Jack before everything went black.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moaning in pain, Jack opened his eyes to find himself in his bedroom. A moment passed where Jack blinked multiple times before he shot up out of bed. “It wasn’t real!” He exclaimed “Oh my god! I’m home! I’m actually home!”

Suddenly a wave of pain crashed through his head again.

**_“Haven’t you always been here?”_ **

“I’ve always been here” it seemed so logical. How could he believe he’d ever been anywhere else?

**_“You never left, did you?”_ **

“No I didn’t” such a stupid thing to think, that he was gone somewhere.

**_“What’s the last thing you remember?”_ **

“Contacting PAX and confirming my availability for a panel.”

**_“That’s it…”_ **


	5. Plane Rides and Some Arriving

On the plane to Boston, Felix had his headphones on, listening to the old streams from PAX on his iPad. He wanted to be sure that he would recognize the differences between Jack’s normal behavior and… it’s only due to the fact that it really had been way too long since he’s seen him being completely 100% normal.

First with the glitches in his videos, then when he came over and was so severely mentally damaged; he found it really hard to remember what his friend was like back before October.

The thought of how mentally damaged Jack had seemed when he had first arrived in the first place made Felix wonder for the first time; what happened while he was home alone?

Felix was pulled away from his thoughts by Marzia leaning over to look at his screen, and one she saw what he was watching she kissed her boyfriend’s cheek, rubbing his arm soothingly. Pulling out one of his ear buds, Marzia then murmured “We’re going to figure something out and try and help him in any way we can” in his ear.

Felix smiled slightly “Is it weird that I literally can’t remember what he was like before all of this?” he asked.

Marzia shook her head “No, it’s completely understandable.” She said “It’s been a long time since you’ve seen him be normal.”

“I really appreciate you helping me through this Marzia” Felix said.

Marzia smiled in response “Of course”

Felix leaned back and settled into his seat. “Only 6 hours to go of this flight!” He said in a strongly sarcastic happy voice before doing jazz hands, making Marzia laugh.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Mark was sitting at a poker table with two people that looked at almost identical to him. He turned to look next to him and a replica of Tyler dressed as a butler offered him champagne. At least he assumed so, as he nodded and was handed a glass, all he could hear was a high pitched ringing._

_Suddenly he was standing in a room with candles and tarot cards. Before him sat the replica of himself with the suit and a woman who looked identical to Pam, another friend of his._

_Before he knew it he was looking into a mirror and-_

Mark awoke suddenly with a gasp before looking around to check he wasn’t in that oddly familiar mansion, panting heavily whilst he did. 

Apologizing, Mark ducked his head in embarrassment while Ethan and Tyler had a good laugh at Mark’s reaction. Amy looked at her boyfriend, concerned.

“I’m fine” he muttered to her, sensing her eyes on him. Amy was dubious of that but left him alone about it once again.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since Emma had booked both her and Pj’s seats, they were booked next to each other, which was nice since now they wouldn’t have to awkwardly sit next to strangers.

Throughout the plane ride they conversed about various random things before they both put on their headphones and listened to music.

Neither of them wanted to think about what was to come, similar to everyone in the same situation as them.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Mark’s plane landed, he could feel himself tense up. Memories of how he had gotten in this position flashing like images before his eyes.

Shaking it off, Mark got up and grabbed his carryon bag. This would certainly be an adventure but hopefully they would get a better result than last time.

As soon as he was sure that all of his friends were with him, Mark started leading the way to the rental cars.

Renting a car that fits five people, Mark handed the keys to Tyler so that he could text his friends and check to see if they were on their way as well as talk to his friends a bit. If he was driving he knew his mind would have been somewhere else so he decided against it.

When he opened up his phone and turned off airplane mode, the first text to show up made his heart stop:

 _Jack: Hey Mark! Just got on the plane to make sure I get there early_ _J_ _See you soon!!_

_\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

 Jack got onto the plane to PAX, ecstatic to see his friends again. It felt like it had been ages since he had last seen Mark and Felix at that Cringemas Livestream. For some reason, he shuddered as those words passed through his mind.

_Cringemas Livestream…_

It felt like that should be triggering some sort of memory but it wasn’t doing that; a very odd sensation indeed.

Letting it go, Jack sat down in his seat and plugged his headphones into his iPad and enjoyed listening to some of the Undertale soundtrack as the plane took off.

It felt like something big was coming and that he should be anticipating it but he couldn’t place what it was.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mark quickly fired off a screenshot of the text to a group chat of Emma, Pj, Felix, Marzia and himself titled “Demon Busters!”

Knowing that nobody would be seeing that until they landed which wouldn’t be for a couple of hours, Mark turned off his phone and put it away.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anti and Dark were sat inside a black void. They were no longer within Jack’s mind but Anti, being a part of Jack, still had a live feed of everything Jack saw that he could access at any time just by closing his eyes and focusing on wanting to see it.

They were inside of Dark’s home, which was nowhere. It literally didn’t exist yet they were somehow still there.

Dark had warned him against questioning it, claiming it would “only hurt his brain” and that "you get used to it after a while".

After a long period of time spent planning their strategy, the two rose from their seats. _ **“Here’s to looking forward to doing business with you”** _ Dark said, waving a hand over the table making two glasses of red wine appear.

Picking his up, he tipped it towards Anti who picked up his as well and did the same.

Dark snapped his fingers, making the table and chairs vanish. In their wake were a large couch and a TV. When Anti asked what these things were for Dark told him to try and project the feed of Jack onto the screen.

While Anti sat down, Anti attempted to visualize the image before him on the TV. Opening his eyes he saw that it had thankfully worked. After Dark offered him a microphone and a button to help with controlling and speaking to Jack, Anti turned both down, reassuring Dark that he was capable of communicating with Jack if he just willed him to hear him.

Dark set both up anyways, 'in case of emergency' he had said. As soon as he was done, he joined Anti and the two demons sat together watching Jack’s every move and waiting for the moments where it would become necessary to suppress memories that would trigger what they had made temporarily locked away.

Dark handed Anti a large bowl of popcorn, making him laugh at how normal and human they were acting. ~~_**“Thanks”**_~~ he said with a smile.

Dark smiled slightly in return before turning and looking at the TV in front of him.


	6. Abnormality Sucks Sometimes, So Let's Try Normality For Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little more depth on Anti's character, Mark trying to act as if everything is fine, Jack growing suspicious, Felix and Marzia are trying to be happy as well.
> 
> Enjoy :)

Once everyone was settled into the car, Tyler drove them all to the nearest Mc Donald’s for lunch. After everyone had gotten their food he pulled out of the drive through and into a parking spot.

“Where are we going Mark?” Katherine asked as she pulled out the GPS to program their destination.

“The hotel PAX booked for us…was On Peak if I remember correctly?” Mark said, earning a look from Katherine. “What?” Mark asked to which Katherine replied “Please be sure of where it is we are staying so I don’t show up to some random hotel Mark.” making everyone laugh. Mark rolled his eyes playfully before he opened his phone and after a moment held it up to show the email explaining where they would be staying to Katherine.

After a moment, Katherine finished typing it in and the location popped up. “Alright, well off we go then!” Katherine exclaimed, placing the device on the dashboard.

As the car began to move, Mark felt genuinely happy for the first time in a bit. Knowing that his problems where going to be dealt with soon was quite soothing to him and it seemed to be allowing him to open up a bit more and to revert back to his normal goofy ways.  

Smiling, Mark leant back into his seat and thought happily about when Felix, Marzia, Emma, Pj, Jack and himself would all hang out with Amy, Tyler, Ethan and Katherine without any tension or fear. The way things should be and would be very soon if he focused and made sure to give full effort in trying to help their friend.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mark hadn’t noticed but Ethan had seen Mark open up the text message from Jack.

Watching how his eyes had widened and his skin had paled to almost be as white as a ghost; Ethan realized that Jack had something to do with this weird behavior out of Marks.

Was it possible that Jack had said or done something? ‘Maybe they got into some sort of fight?’ he thought to himself but he had a feeling that when watching the Cringemas Livestream, it had cut out suddenly and that had been when things changed. Jack had done… something.

_Why couldn’t he remember the events of the stream?_

This was the first time he had realized that. What had happened to make them vanish entirely from his mind? Why could he only remember bits and pieces of watching that live stream?

Something odd was definitely going on here and he was determined to find out what it was that had happened during that trip.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three out of the six hours and a half of the flight had passed however Jack didn’t find himself to be bored just yet. He had been busying himself with thoughts of his friends and eventually hi thoughts began to drift over to the last time he had seen them all.

_It really felt like he should remember something about that live stream._

Once again, his thoughts seemed to be almost forcibly yanked away from that topic. ‘ _Why the hell does that keep happening?’_ Jack couldn’t be bothered to get into that now.

What he had to focus on was what he was going to say during that panel! Yes, he had his own last year as well but that didn’t take any of the pressure off! The last thing he wanted was for another embarrassing misunderstanding. _‘I honestly don’t know how Mark does this every year.’_ Jack thought to himself before giggling at the memories of the few panels he had done with Mark.

Running his fingers through his hair, Jack relaxed into the seat and prepared himself for another three hours.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anti was frantically hitting his red button on his controller in order to take minor control and steer Jack’s thoughts away from that live stream.

**_“He’s cleverer than we gave him credit for…”_** Dark said amusedly, observing the scene.

**_“Of course he’s clever!”_** Anti exclaimed before turning back to look at Dark behind him with a smirk. He blinked and his eyes went completely black for a moment **_“He’s like me!”_**

Dark chuckled at Anti and ruffled his hair slightly before leaning back in his seat and continuing to observe the TV, not noticing Anti sigh and turn away.

**_“And just like me…”_** he mused as he observed Jack smiling at the view out the window of the plane. **_“He gets himself into situations where he’s in way over his head..."_** Shaking his head, Anti went back to focusing on Jack's thoughts.

**\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Marzia shook Felix awake as soon as she saw that people were starting to get off the plane. As soon as he was awake, the couple began gathering the few things that they had taken out of the carryons throughout the flight. Picking them up, they got off the plane.

As soon as they had gotten their rental car, they finally allowed themselves to relax for a moment.

“Something tells me that this isn’t going to be such a fun trip, is it?” Marzia asked sarcastically making Felix laugh.

“IS THAT A CHALLENGE?” he exclaimed in a raspy boisterous voice. Marzia laughed at the voice he usually only used in his videos.

“Sure it is!” she exclaimed.

Felix scoffed in fake contempt at Marzia and shouted “BRING IT ON WOMAN!” before he started up the car and began to drive out of the parking lot, all the while the two laughed.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Jack felt like he was floating in midair. He opened his eyes to see what was going on and was met by a pair of black eyes with green irises. Wanting to back away and scream, Jack tried to but found himself incapable of moving._

_The dark eyed man looked just like him with the exception of his hair which was a darker shade of green than his. The doppelgangers eyes widened and he looked surprised until he suddenly vanished along with the black void around him._

_Jack opened his eyes and saw the camera in front of him. That’s right, he was filming a video. What a weird day dream…_

Jack’s eyes shot open and he sat up, breathing heavily. Looking around him, he saw that he was on the plane to PAX, just as he had remembered. Who had that been in his dream?

Once again feeling like he really should remember this, Jack felt that pull in his mind that tugged him away almost forcibly from the topic.

Huffing out a sigh of irritation, Jack once again allowed the feeling to take over and his mind once again was steered to another topic.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anti was growing quite tired of how much Jack was trying to uncover those memories, although, it made sense why he was.

Of course he wanted to know why he couldn’t really remember anything about the last few months of his life!

Anti rubbed his forehead, tired of needing to do this but knowing that it was necessary. If he was going to carry out this plan and keep Jack safe, he would need to make sure Jack had no idea what was going on. If he did, he might put himself in harm’s way by telling people and then he knew that instinct would take over and…

Anti shook it off and continued to pay attention to the screen. If he missed one thing, then this whole plan could fall apart.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mark was chatting with Amy, Tyler and Katherine. It was one of those moments where they all wanted to pretend that everything was normal. Everyone was smiling and laughing, joking around as they had all the time.

Ethan on the other hand, was trying to figure out a way to get Mark’s phone when he wasn’t looking. Normally, he wouldn’t ever dream of invading a friend’s privacy like this but he knew that this was an emergency situation, no matter how much Mark may try to avoid the subject.

It was only when Mark shook his shoulder that Ethan snapped back into reality. “You okay?” Mark asked, concerned for his friend.

Realizing that he had been staring out the window and been completely silent, Ethan forced a smile and nodded “Yeah, I’m fine!”

Thankfully, that was enough for Mark to leave him alone.


	7. Reunions and Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunions and Fear, as I said in the title :)

When Felix and Marzia arrived at the hotel that Pax had booked, they grabbed their luggage and quickly went inside. Felix checked into his and Marzia’s room and then the couple got in the elevator and headed upstairs.

”Do you think that PAX would have thought to book rooms close to each other for all of us?” Marzia asked as they wheeled their luggage out of the elevator.  Felix paused before dropping his luggage and turning around to get back on the elevator. Marzia giggled before grabbing the handle to her boyfriend’s luggage and hauling the two bags down the hall to their hotel room.

Pulling out the keycard, she entered the hotel room and closed the door.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

The car pulled up in front of the hotel and Mark hopped out almost immediately. He knew Felix was here already thanks to him having texted the group chat and Mark wanted nothing more than to see someone who had been through the same thing he had and that he could talk to. So much so, that all logic of keeping up appearances went out the window.

Last time he had seen him he had hands covered in his girlfriend’s blood and sweat coating his body. Suddenly remembering that he would be seeing Marzia as well, Mark sped up that much more.

“Mark!” he heard his name being called behind him but he couldn’t bring himself to focus on that.

Walking into the lobby, Mark’s eyes zeroed in on the man with white hair about to enter the elevator. Immediately, he called out to him “FELIX!”

The man turned and his eyes lit up at seeing Mark. The two ran towards each other and embraced one another. Mark felt his eyes start to get watery so he blinked the tears back before muttering “I missed you so much…” Mark never wanted this to end. He never wanted to have to return to the cruel reality of why they were here.

“You really are a bit of a crybaby aren’t ya?” Felix said jokingly, attempting to lighten the mood as he did in most heavy situations. All Mark wanted now was for some peace. “You have no idea how hard it is to not be able to talk about-“

Felix shushed him quickly and let go of him. Confused, Mark turned around to see what his friend was looking at and was met with the sight of his friends entering the building.

“Hey guys!” Felix called, clearly trying to act as if he was fine. His friends didn’t seem to notice the slight lack of enthusiasm or joy that the Swedes voice used to carry all the time but Mark certainly did.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tyler quickly greeted him before going to check them in whilst Amy started to converse with Felix. Ethan however, stood back and thought over what had happened a moment ago. Mark had run to him as if he hadn’t seen him in years and looking at Mark right at this moment, his eyes were glassy and he didn’t seem to be displaying any emotions at all.

Filing that information away for later examination in his head, Ethan suggested to the group that they all grab their bags and move this party upstairs where they wouldn’t bother any of the people checking in. Just then, Tyler returned to the group and so they all got in the elevator and headed up to hang out while they waited for the others.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaning over to Felix as they walked behind everyone else in the hallways, Mark whispered “What are we going to tell them when jack arrives?”

Felix made sure that the others weren’t listening before replying “Why do you ask?”

“Because if we got hotel rooms booked by PAX, he had one on this level as well and we can’t just not hang out with him; that would be more suspicious. Not to mention Signe’s absence…” he trailed off with a shudder.

“Well, we could just not say anything and pretend everything is fine, couldn’t we?” Felix suggested hopefully “Haven’t you been able to do that for a couple of months now?”

Mark was dubious of that “Do you really think we’ll be able to keep from reacting oddly to him when last time we saw him he tried to _kill_ us? Also, have we considered that Anti might be the one getting off that plane?”

Felix paused for a moment before replying with a simple “We’ll have to make it up as we go then” And then going to his door to get Marzia.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marzia put down her hair straightener when she heard a knock at the door. Not trusting anyone or anything she picked it up and unplugged it before approaching the door with it poised like a baseball bat.

Looking through the keyhole she saw Felix but there was no way to know for sure if this was her boyfriend and not that demon impersonating him like he could probably impersonate Jack.

So Marzia threw open the door and raised the hair straighter. “What day is my birthday?” she quickly asked, that being the only question that she could think of that… he wouldn’t know the answer to.

Felix seemed to at first be intimated and slightly scared by her sudden aggression but after a moment he thought it over. “It’s better to be safe than sorry…” he then quickly replied with “October 21st, 1992” before reaching out and lowering her arms.

Marzia teared up slightly and dropped the hair straightner. Felix then pulled her into a hug and soothingly stroked her head.

‘I’m so sorry if I scared you-“ Marzia began to whisper but Felix cut her off, pushing back from the embrace and offering a comforting smile “It’s fine, I know why” after a moment of somber silence Felix then muttered “Although it concerns me that all you could think of was to ask your birthday” which earned a smile and a swat from Marzia. To which, of course, Felix acted as if he had been mortally injured. After they had both calmed down from their laughing, Felix leaned forwards and whispered in her ear “Mark’s here with his friends. They don’t know anything and Mark wants to keep it that way for now so we can’t openly talk just yet.”

Marzia frowned slightly at not being able to discuss plans or courses of action in certain scenarios but she could understand why Mark didn’t want to share the story with his friends just yet. She knew that she hadn’t told anyone about it, but she had Felix.

“He must be going mad not to be able to talk about it” Marzia murmured.

“I know, he wanted so badly to talk but his friends came in just then so we have to wait. We’ll have a meeting once Pj and Emma get here.” Felix replied “Come on, we should get over there and socialize. It may do us some good to talk about normal stuff for once.”

Marzia wrapped an arm around her boyfriend and Felix did the same in return. The two slowly as possible shuffled down the hallway and around the corner to Mark and Amy’s room.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

PAX had booked him and Amy a room together but the dilemma was fitting the others.

Tyler and Ethan had a thumb war over who got the spare room that was just next door and Tyler won leaving Ethan with the air mattress in the living room of Tyler’s hotel room. Katherine volunteered to sleep on the pull out bed in the living room of Mark and Amy’s hotel room.

It was a really nice place and Mark felt grateful to have what he had but the weight of what was to come was so overpowering that he couldn’t quite enjoy himself as he wanted to.

Jack was going to be here, in this building, just a few doors down. They had no way of knowing if it was Anti or not and they would be forced to hang out with him whether or not his friend was in there.

There was also the topic that he had neglected to bring up with Felix in the brief time they had spoken so far, which was how the fuck did Jack escape prison, and possibly even more importantly, why? There had to be some sort of goal Anti had that had motivated him to break out and if the first thing he was doing was coming here then-

Mark’s thoughts were cut off by a knock at the hotel door. The saner side of his mind was telling him that it was probably Marzia and Felix yet he found that wasn’t enough reassurance to him. So despite the confused looks from his friends who were all still in his, Katherine and Amy’s room, Mark grabbed a knife and looked through the key hole.

Seeing Felix and Marzia, he still didn’t trust it. Throwing open the door he quickly pulled them in and held a knife to Felix’s throat. Everyone gasping in the background was simply white noise.

Felix’s eyes widened at first but then he looked into Mark’s eyes and saw that same panic and fear Marzia had when she opened the door to him which made him immediately calm down.

“Where were you after the Cringemas stream?” Mark muttered to Felix angrily.

“In the bathroom, helping Marzia” he muttered back. Mark immediately calmed down and dropped his knife. “Sorry, you just have to be careful, you know?”

Felix smiled and hugged his friend close, Marzia joining in after a moment. Meanwhile Amy, Tyler, Ethan and Katherine looked on with mystified expressions on their faces.

After a moment of no one doing anything, finally Katherine exclaimed “I hate to interrupt, but what the fuck just happened?”

The three looked up to see the confused group before them. They looked at one another and desperately tried to formulate some sort of plan without speaking.


	8. Let it Go (For Now)

Pj and Emma’s plane had just landed in Boston. They picked up their carryon’s and put away their stuff before exiting the plane.

“You want to grab a bite to eat before we meet up with everyone?” Pj asked Emma since they both hadn’t eaten anything since after breakfast.

“Fuck yeah!” Emma exclaimed “I’ve been starved since we got onto that damn plane!” and so the two rented a car and then proceeded to pull out their phones to try and find some place that had a drive thru that would hopefully be nearby.

\--------------------------------------------------------

Ethan watched in disbelief as Mark grabbed a knife and held it to Felix’s throat, hurriedly whispering something to him. The only thing rivaling how terrifying it was to see a friend that he knew as a good guy holding a knife to his friend’s throat was how calm said friend was.

After a moment, Mark dropped the knife and Felix hugged him as if nothing was wrong with this. To his further disbelief, Marzia joined in on the hug too. Was his weird shit going to be the new normal now?

First the fucking scars all over Mark, then immediately preceding that he tells them to pack their bags to go to Boston early then this.

After Ethan, Tyler, Amy and Katherine had really let it sink in that yes this was happening, Katherine thankfully broke the silence.

“I hate to interrupt, but what the fuck just happened?” the three people in question looked at her as if she had sprouted extra heads. In all honesty, that might be less startling.

After a moment of exchanging looks, Felix got up and motioned for them to sit down which made him finally notice that yes he had stood up when Mark had picked up the knife. Good to know that his body automatically reacted.

Ethan couldn’t help but notice how panicked Mark and Marzia looked but it seemed that Felix flashing them a look was enough to calm them down.

Felix fiddled with his hands for a moment before saying “Well you know how Jack has been missing, right?”

It was now the group of fours turns to look at him as if he’s grown extra heads. “No, he hasn’t been” Ethan interjected

Felix paused for a moment and looked at Ethan skeptically. “What do you mean?” he said in a deadpan tone of voice making a shiver run down Ethan’s spine. Feeling unsettled, he started to stutter as he attempted to give an answer “I-I mean that h-he’s been posting as normal,” he said as he pulled out his phone and opened Jack’s channel “See?”

Felix swiped the phone away from him and started to scroll down through Jack’s videos. His eyes widened and he quickly went to Mark and Marzia to show them as well.

Ethan looked to Katherine, Tyler and Amy for some sort of explanation but everyone seemed to have the same expression of ‘what the fuck’ on their face. At least he wasn’t alone on this.

When Felix came back over to Ethan and handed back his phone he looked like he had seen a ghost. Wide eyes and paler than normal (Which is saying something), Felix offered a shaky smile to Ethan. Looking over at Mark and Marzia, they were in similar condition.

“What has Jack got to do with any of this anyway?” Tyler asked, finally voicing what they all wanted to know. But they didn’t get an answer. For at that moment, Felix quickly grabbed Marzia and Mark’s arms and left without a word.

“Thanks for answering the damn question” Ethan muttered as he went to pick up the knife that Mark had dropped on the floor “Not like you should, I mean, what right do we all have to know?”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as Felix closed the door to his own hotel room behind him he turned back around to his two friends.

“How,” Felix said “ _How_ could he have posted anything!?” he started to pace and pull at his hair, expressing the fear and frustration he was feeling.

“Scheduled uploads possibly?” Marzia said in a small voice

“Wouldn’t we have seen those there anyways?” Mark chimed in.

Felix pulled out his phone and texted the groups chat asking if anyone had seen Jack uploading videos as of late. About to put his phone away and continue talking, he felt his phone buzz. Checking the notification, his eyes widened once more and he dropped his phone.

Mark pulled out his phone to see what had been sent on the chat and suddenly he understood. There Jack was on their group chat, texting happily as can be, as if nothing had ever happened.

**_Jack: Of course I’ve been uploading!_ **

**_Jack: It’s kind of my job?_ **

**_Jack: Why do you ask?_ **

**_Jack: Whatever, I guess now’s a good time to let you know that I’m about 20 minutes away from the hotel_ **

**_Jack: See you guys soon then :p_ **

Putting away his phone, he returned his attention to the very distressed Felix.

“Felix, I know it’s weird, but he really genuinely doesn’t seem to remember” Mark said cautiously approaching his friend who looked like he wanted to throw something.

“That’s even weirder, don’t you find?” Marzia piped up causing the two men to revert their attention to her

“What do you mean?” Mark asked

“Well, Ethan doesn’t seem to remember any period of time where the videos weren’t coming as normal, Jack really doesn’t seem to be acting odd in any way as far as we’ve seen and to top it all off, PAX booked Jack so there’s no way they know that something is off.” Marzia said.

“Do you think that maybe,” Felix began “Maybe he tampered with people’s memories? Who knows what he’s capable of!?”

Mark thought it over before he said “It’s perfectly believable that A- … that he might be capable of that, but let’s not jump to conclusions guys, okay? I’m tired and I’m hungry so let’s try and pretend everything’s fine as we have been for the last few months, at least until Pj and Emma arrives.”

After some slight hesitation, they all decided that holding out on discussing this might do them all some good. After all, these extra weeks whole purpose was for dealing with this. What difference are a few hours of much needed relaxation going to make?

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Amy was feeling quite panicked at the events that had just unraveled before her eyes.

Her sweet caring boyfriend who wouldn’t hurt a fly had just picked up a knife and put it to his friend’s throat. Then the two had proceeded to hug one another and everyone seemed fine with this.

Unless she had missed something big and everyone else around her was getting it, this had to have something to do with that trip. That’s the only time none of them had seen Mark and that he had been with Felix, Jack and Marzia who all seemed to be in on this as was evident from the fact that the moment Felix had arrived the two men had embraced one another as if it had been years. The real question here was what did happen to make them behave this way.

She had to admit, it was slightly reassuring that it wasn’t just Mark acting odd. Marzia and Felix, who had also been with him in London, were acting off as well.

Not to mention the way they had reacted to Jack uploading videos…

“What did Jack do?” Ethan muttered, speaking everyone’s thought aloud.

“I know, right?” Katherine said “I just can’t see any logical reason as to why they would react that way to him uploading videos.”

“He’s a YouTuber, it’s kind of his job.” Tyler pitched in.

Amy laughed nervously at Tyler’s comment. “Why would they be reacting like this?” Amy asked rhetorically “It was from the moment that Mark announced that we were coming here early.”

Ethan pitched in with “Not to mention those scars we found on him… not to mention some of the marks that looked to be only scabbed over” After a moment of silence passed Tyler spoke up once more “I don’t know what happened,” he said standing up and placing a hand comfortingly on Amy’s shoulder “But something big has to have gone down during that trip to London.”

Everyone in the room nodded their agreement. Just then, Felix returned with Mark and Marzia in tow. They all appeared much happier then they had been when they left.

Mark quickly walked up to Amy and muttered to her “I know this is weird, but get everyone to act normal for now, okay?”

“Why should I when you’re being dishonest Mark?” Amy muttered back exasperated “I’ve asked several time if you’re okay and this behavior doesn’t reassure me that you are, in fact, okay!”

“I know, and I’m sorry” Mark replied “But I will explain eventually, okay? Just for now, for a few more hours, just trust me”

He planted a kiss on her forehead and tucked her hair behind her ear. He gave a small, sad smile. Amy nodded in agreement “Only a few more hours though, okay?”

Mark nodded before turning back to the group who were staring at them.

When a silence fell over the room, Felix broke it by suggesting that he, Mark, Ethan and Tyler play a video game. Inviting Marzia and Amy as well, but they turned down the offer and decided to go and hang out since they hadn’t in a while due to Amy not being able to make it to London for the stream.

Although Mark and Felix seemed hesitant to let them leave, they said their goodbyes and then started up a game on the TV.

As Amy and Marzia walked down the hall, they already heard the boisterous men shouting at the game. Laughing, the two began to chat as Marzia fished around in her purse for the keycard.

“Thank god this whole floor and the next is for guests at PAX, otherwise we might get kicked out.” Amy said and the two girls laughed, unbeknownst to one another that they were allowing themselves to let go of their worries and concerns for a short while.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack had just finished an episode of Rick and Morty when an announcement saying that they were landing in about 15 minutes came over the speakers.

Chuckling at the convenient timing, Jack took off his headphones and put them along with his laptop into his carry on.  After the amount of time it took to get that done (since his headphones and laptop had generously decided to not fit), the plane had already landed.

Once he had gotten off the plane, jack went to sit on a bench to check if he had missed anything online or any messages from his friends. Sure enough, the ladder was true. Checking Felix’s message brought about that feeling of forgetfulness once more though;

_Felix: Hey guys don’t want to alarm anyone, but have you seen Jack uploading any videos as of late?_

Incredibly confused at the odd statement Jack texted back, joking that it was his job so he’d hope he had been.

That same sensation that felt like from the depths of his mind something was screaming for his attention returned. Shaking it off, Jack went to go rent a car before he remembered that he doesn’t have a driver’s license. Chuckling at his own forgetfulness, he pulled out his phone and decided that rather than have to pay for a taxi, he’d just call Mark to come pick him up.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hearing his ringer go off, Mark quickly got up and asked for a moment. Ethan picked up the controller and paused the game and Felix watched him go with a confused expression. Why would anyone be calling them?

Picking up his phone his eyes widened. Suddenly it felt as if he was watching from a third person perspective as he slowly walked over to Felix and held up the phone.

Immediately, Felix dropped the controller. “Answer” he said in barely above a whisper, much to Ethan and Tyler’s confusion. Clicking the green button, a moment of silence passed before the familiar voice that now sounded alien came over the speaker

_“Hello?”_


	9. Ringing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :)

Pj and Emma finished up their snack that they had gotten at a drive thru just as they were pulling up at the hotel PAX had booked Mark and Felix. Of course, they all wanted to be as close as possible whilst they were here so Emma had booked two rooms (One for Pj and one for herself) here when she had booked plane tickets.

Unloading the rental car of their luggage, Emma and Pj started towards the lobby to check into the hotel. Both of them all the while dreading the events that may take place but eagerly anticipating the possible return of their friend once this was all over.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Mark was barely able to stutter out a reply “H- hello Jack…”

Ethan and Tyler cheerfully exclaimed a greeting to their friend while Felix and Mark tried to gather the courage to talk to him as if everything was fine.

Felix was the first of the two men to speak up after an uncomfortable silence. “Hi there Jack” he said in a composed voice “What’s up?”

Silence fell over the two as they awaited a response

_“I kind of did a stupid and forgot I can’t drive…”_

This was just too weird; to hear Jack talking as if nothing’s changed.

Mark got up and left the room without a word, leaving Felix to do the talking.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Felix forced a laugh. He had to maintain the impression of everything being as it was two months ago.

“Wow, bravo Jack… So why did you call then?” Felix said

_“I called to beg for someone to pick me up…maybe?”_

Felix fell completely silent for a moment. If he doesn’t pick him up it will look weird but if he does there’s no way he’ll be able to maintain a straight face. In the end, either way he would be seeing Jack. Why not get it over with then?

_“Uh yeah sure, I’ll be there in about 20 minutes.”_ Felix’s voice came over the line after a moment of silence.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack smiled at his friends’ kindness and cheerfully thanked him before hanging up and checking twitter.

Scrolling through replies to his tweets from the last few days he started to notice something odd. He couldn’t remember writing a single one of these tweets yet here they were, and not to mention that he had apparently already replied to some of the comments.

“What in the ever loving fuck?” he muttered to himself. It would be one thing if it was one or two things that he didn’t remember writing but this was two months worth of tweets. Moving over to YouTube he discovered the same thing. Scrolling through his videos, there was two months worth of content that he had absolutely no memory of.

Eventually he reached October of 2016’s videos whilst searching to make sure everything else was accounted for in his brain. However, before he could continue to check an ear piercing ringing overtook his mind.

Clutching either side of his head, he struggled to remain upright as he stumbled over to the bathrooms to make sure no one would see him and believe that he was insane or something.

It was funny, the more he tried to think about it, the worse the ringing got. It felt like someone had taken a metal baseball bat and they were hitting his head repeatedly. Removing one hand from the side of his head, Jack brought it to his mouth and bit down hard to muffle any screams that could escape without him noticing.

Finally making it to the bathroom, Jack moved into a stall as quickly as he could. Managing to make it just before he collapsed to his knees, Jack leaned over and vomited violently into the toilet bowl.

As soon as he was done he leant his head back against the wall of the stall and allowed himself to cry.

“What in the fuck is happening to me?” he muttered quietly to himself. Struggling to access the memories that he now could tell were locked away, Jack decided to give it one more go. Mentally pushing against any barriers that he had for some reason put up, Jack felt a brief all encompassing pain consume his very being. Shrieking in anguish, he quickly slapped a hand over his mouth to silence himself before leaning over to vomit again. The most peculiar thing bout all of this was how this didn't feel like this was the first time he had endured this. It felt as if... he'd done this before? A deja - vu of sorts except it felt a bit different than that. Unwilling to push himself any more today, Jack wiped his mouth with some toilet paper and flushed, not noticing how some of the contents of the bowel were his own blood.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Felix,” Mark said placing an arm on Felix’s shoulder as he pulled on his shoes to leave “You’re not going without me, you know that right?”

Felix was about to retort that he was perfectly capable of going on his own but as he paused to think about it, it dawned on him that maybe going and picking up someone who they weren’t sure was a crazed lunatic or not might not be the best idea.

“Okay, yeah, come on let’s go” Felix muttered as he finished pulling on his shoes. As soon as the two had their shoes on, they left the building knowing that if they stayed for too much longer they might start to think it over and back out.

Once they got into Felix’s rental car, he called Marzia and let her know where they were headed. She wished them luck and they were on their way, both of them ignoring the heavy feeling of dread that seemed to engulf them both.

Mark couldn’t stop himself from thinking of a million different scenarios of what could happen when they got there and from the look on Felix’s face and the way he was gripping the steering wheel so hard hi knuckles seemed to be turning white he assumed he wasn’t the only one.

The fact that Jack being here would have used to fill him with joy made him even sadder as to what he had possibly lost; an amazing, kind, genuine friend. Deciding that he needed to take his mind off the topic so as to not be tense around Jack, who really seemed to be completely clueless as to what was going on. The last thing he wanted was to have to explain anything. What in the hell would he say anyways? “Oh, yeah, sorry for acting weird it’s just that I’m a bit nervous that the demon that can possess you will kill me as I sleep.”

Yeah, no he’s not having that conversation. Then it hit him; what about Signe?

If he’s acting normal surely he must have noticed her absence by now, right? The thought of Signe brought out some unpleasant images of her lying in a puddle of her own blood with her eyes missing so Mark quickly steered his mind away from the topic.

When the car slowed down Mark began to focus on his surroundings and when he saw where they were he became overcome with dread. However, he couldn’t deny the small spark of hope that he felt; maybe during this trip they’ll really get Jack back?

Looking over to an extremely tense Felix, Mark put a hand on his friends shoulder making him jump. “It’s going to be okay Felix, you know that we’ll do everything we can to help him and if worse comes to worse we will just have to go to plan B.”

Felix studied Mark for a moment “What’s plan B?”

After Mark gave him a look Felix finally understood. Mark didn’t like it one bit either but they both knew what would have to be done if push came to shove.

With their hearts laced with fear, the two drove up to pick Jack up, not knowing whether the person getting in the car would be trying to kill them or just be their old friend.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anti watched as Jack vomited from the exertion he had put his brain through by trying to unlock those memories that he had buried away.

_“It’s for the best Anti,”_ Dark said laying a hand on his shoulder _“I know you care about this vessel for some odd reason that I don’t understand but I can assure you, I will remain faithful to our deal”_

Anti began to feel light, as if the worries he had for Jack were vanishing. Attributing this to Dark, he turned to look at him with a scowl. **_“I don’t need your comfort asshole,”_** he growled **_“I’m fine”_**

before picking up Dark's hand and removing it from his shoulder.

Turning back to look at the screen displaying Jack’s view, Anti mulled Dark’s words over in his mind. ‘Yeah, he’s just a vessel, right?’ he thought to himself as he watched him lean back from the toilet bowl and cry through his eyes ‘So why does this feel wrong, yet so right?’

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a little bit of a prelude to all this, including the first book, check out the fan fic' Just Breathe' on my account!


	10. Pick up/Tea/Favor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Picking Jack up and other stuff <3

When Felix pulled up in front of the airport, Mark decided to go in since Jack was expecting him anyways. Felix argued that he should go with him but Mark reassured him that he would be fine and eventually Felix gave in.

“If anything, and I mean anything goes wrong,” Felix said as he parked the car “Call me and I’ll be there immediately”

Mark smiled at his friends concern “I promise that I will Felix” he said as he got out of the car.

Once he was inside mark took a deep breath and let it out. He shouldn’t worry so much; chances were that Jack was fine…Right?

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack eventually pulled himself together enough to stand up and go back to the bench he had been sitting on while waiting for Mark. All he could really think of was how thankful he was that the ringing had stopped.

Shuddering at the thought, Jack steered clear of thinking of that, instead deciding to tune into reality. Looking up he saw Mark looking around for him so with a smile he stood up and went towards his friend.

“Hey Mark!” Jack exclaimed cheerfully, remaining thankfully oblivious to the fear and uncertainty in Mark’s eyes as he watched his friend approach him.

“H…Hey Jack!” Mark stuttered before swallowing the lump in his throat and continuing to speak “How was your flight?”

“Meh,” Jack said waving his hand side to side to indicate the same as what he had said “I’ve just been super hyped up to see everyone!”

Mark shakily nodded before offering to help Jack with his luggage. Once they had gathered his belongings, the two went to find Felix’s car with Jack completely oblivious to how Mark was closely observing his behavior as they walked.

“So, Mark,” Jack said after a moment of mildly tense silence “How’s the trip been so far?”

Mark was struggling to keep it together at this point but seeing Jack acting so normal and cheerful made him capable of falling into old patterns of joking around but there was still an air of tension about the two.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looking out the window, he spotted Mark and Jack heading towards the car. With a sigh of relief at seeing Mark acting normal, Felix allowed himself to calm down.

_‘Everything is fine as of right now,’_ he thought to himself _‘there’s no need to be on edge because that just puts everyone else one edge as well’_

_‘Besides, we’re going to confront him about this as soon as Emma and Pj get here, right?’_

Mark knocking on the window startled Felix and halted his train of thought. Unlocking the door, he watched as Mark climbed into the car. While Jack put his suitcase in the trunk, Felix leaned over to Mark and whispered “We’re going to deal with everything once everyone is here, right?”

Mark quickly nodded in response as Jack climbed into the back seat of the car. About to ask Jack about Signe and then catching himself, Felix slightly panicked; “Welp, let’s get going I guess!” he quickly said.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, Marzia,” Amy said as she watched her friend make them their tea “How’ve things been with Felix?”

“Good!” Marzia said cheerfully “And how’ve things been with Mark?”

Amy hesitated for a moment before saying “Good! Things have been… Things have been great” she said trailing off, as her voice lost its cheer with every syllable, and looking down in thought.

“Ummm… Is everything okay?” Marzia asked, placing a hand on Amy’s shoulder. Amy quickly deflected the question, reassuring her friend that everything was in fact perfectly fine.

“If you say so…” Marzia said before turning back to the tea. After a moment of a slightly awkward and tense silence, Marzia said in a much more serious tone “Trust me, if you need to talk I’m here. I think I can help you out more than you’d think”

Just as the sentence really started to register in Amy’s mind, Marzia asked “So would you like anything in your tea?” in her normal cheerful voice.

“No… No thanks” Amy said quietly. Normal conversation resumed as Marzia poured Amy her tea but as soon as she asked “So how long until Felix and Mark come back with Jack?” Marzia just froze.

Despite Amy’s attempts to snap her out of her frozen state, it was only when the mug she was filling overflowed that she seemed to snap back to reality.

“Shoot!” Marzia exclaimed as hot water fell onto her pants.

“Oh shit! Are you okay?” Amy asked as she moved to grab the kettle from Marzia. “It’s fine, I’m okay Amy.” She said “I’m just going to quickly change my pants, if you wouldn’t mind waiting here?”

Once Amy had reassured her that it was fine, Marzia dashed off to her and Felix’s shared bedroom.

Amy decided to clean up the mess and finish pouring Marzia’s tea. When she crouched down to wipe up the mess with the cloth she had found next to the sink, Amy heard Marzia’s phone vibrate. Picking it up to see if it was the boys, Amy saw a text message from Felix saying

_“It looks like Jack is the one we picked up so there’s no need to warn anyone of anything. Just thought I’d let you know I was okay as I know I’d want you to do the same in my position. Love you <3”_

Amy stared at the message in confusion before she heard the door open. Quickly, Amy placed the phone where she had found it on the counter and pushed the message aside in her mind for the moment.

\--------------------------------------------------------

Anti watched as Jack chatted happily with Felix and Mark and felt extremely on edge. Which was understandable, considering that now if anyone mentioned anything that would make Jack’s mind go to Cringemas, then he would have no choice but to trigger the ringing again which would mean them noticing his peculiar reaction.

Turning away for a moment, Anti glanced at Dark curiously. After a moment, Dark looked over at Anti and gave him a questioning glance before returning to his glass of wine.

_‘It’s a bit odd,’_ he thought to himself _‘that I am similar to Jack in some ways, yet Dark, from what I’ve seen, is the polar opposite of everything Mark is. The only thing I think that he and I do certainly have in common though is a burning desire for control’_

Yanked away from his chain of thought by Jack’s mind wandering once again, Anti dropped the topic entirely.

The next time his attention was drawn away from the screen was when Dark stood from the couch and dusted off his suit.

**_“Where are you off to?”_** Anti asked suspiciously to which Dark chuckled.

**“I’m off to get a… favor from someone.”** Dark said before the room around them began to become almost static. Once everything returned to normal, a door was in the middle of this dark realm. Seemingly unfazed, Dark opened the door and reached through.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Mark and Felix had run out the door to go pick up Jack, Ethan and Tyler continued to play the game for a while.

After about 10 minutes, Ethan had finally had enough and hit pause. “Okay, I want answers” Tyler exclaimed turning to Ethan.

“I don’t have any if that’s what you’re going for here” Ethan replied “No, not from you!” he exclaimed “I want to find out what’s going on and since I get the feeling Mark isn’t going to tell us, why don’t we find out?”

Ethan was hesitant despite his previous thoughts of checking Mark’s phone or something. “Are you sure we should?” Ethan asked “I mean maybe we just need to give him time?”

Tyler thought it over for a moment before shaking his head “I just don’t think he’s planning on telling us anything Ethan.” Tyler said, rubbing his face “I really don’t”

The silence was interrupted by a overpowering static noise that echoed throughout the room. The two boys covered their ears and groaned in pain. Then just as suddenly as it began, it stopped.

“What the fuck was that?” Ethan said but when he looked around the room, or rather lack thereof, he didn’t really care about that at the moment. Everything was pitch black and the static noise from before still resounded throughout the room at a much more quiet level.

Looking before him, a silhouette emerged from the darkness. **“Greetings, Ethan.”** An almost impossibly deep voice that sounded somewhat distorted said **“I hate to disturb you but I’m afraid I have a… task for you.”**

**\-----------------------------------------**

Once the odd static had faded, Tyler opened his eyes that he had clenched shut in reaction to the noise. Looking around, he noticed that Ethan was gone.

“Ethan?” he called, standing from the couch and looking down the halls “Ethan, this isn’t funny.” Tyler said in a deadpan tone.

All of a sudden, he became aware that the static ringing had returned, after a moment he heard a gasp from the living room followed by a thud. Dashing over to the room, Tyler was greeted with the image of Ethan laying face down on the floor, unconscious.

“Ethan!” Tyler exclaimed as he ran to his friend. With only a bit of struggle, Tyler placed Ethan on the couch while he left the room to calm down.

“How did he just randomly appear?” Tyler asked himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that I upload with such long spaces in between. I've been busy lately and I've also been wanting to make sure that I can make this story the best that I can make it!  
> Please bear with me here, I'll continue to upload as much as I possibly can while making this the best I can <3


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anti, Dark and arrivals (oh my)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I know I've been gone for a while but the move finally happened and as we unpack i get closer and closer to having all the free time I used to have back.  
> Thank you to everyone who's continued to join in and read this story as well!  
> I've updated chapter 5 and the change I've made is pretty significant to the story down the line so you may want to check it out (Mark's dream sequence ;) )  
> Recently certain things have come out that have inspired some plot changes so I'm changing things accordingly. Don't worry, it's nothing major to the plot... yet.  
> Love you guys and thank you so much for your patience and I'll try and post more regularly soon!  
> <3 Enjoy! <3

Dark smiled to himself at what had been accomplished thus far.

The blue haired one was surely too scared by what he had promised he’d do to tell anyone about their little encounter, Anti was displaying behaviors that suggested he would be easy to… persuade and he had this group of Mark’s friend’s right where he wanted them; in a state of paranoia and anticipation.

Returning to the couch he had been sitting on prior to his little chat, Dark began to think up ways to get Anti to be in the right mindset for what they’d be doing. **_‘_** ** _Currently he wishes to keep Jack out of this due to their unfortunate bonding over the period of those two months,’_** Dark thought to himself with disgust. Caring for others wasn’t really his forte. After all, he was Mark’s alter.

As he took the time to formulate several different possible courses of action he made sure he gave off the outward appearance that he was observing the TV. After a while, Dark finally came up with something.

Deciding to actually watch what was on the screen, he observed as Jack joked around with Mark as Felix drove them back to their hotel.

Mark seemed to be on edge, not that Jack had noticed thanks to Anti’s tampering there. With a smile, Dark thought to himself **_‘Oh Mark, don’t you worry about Jack, you have much bigger problems coming your way.’_**

Hearing Dark’s laughter, Anti turned to look at him with what appeared to be a questioning expression. It was a bit frustrating to converse with Anti since due to his constant glitches you may have trouble with determining his facial expressions or tone of voice. About to snap, Dark composed himself before he politely smiled and turned away from the other entity’s gaze.

 ** _‘It really is too bad that he has this soft spot for that vessel of his now,’_** Dark thought to himself **_‘If he didn’t we’d be able to get on with this much easier…’_**

After a moment Dark smiled to himself. **_‘I actually just might have the answer to that problem.’_**

**_\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------_ **

Pulling up in front of the hotel, Pj quickly fired out a text to the group chat informing them that they were here. Turning to Emma, the two looked at one another somberly.

They both carried an aura of dread and fear but despite that they decided that it would probably be best to at least attempt to conceal that for now.

Removing his bags from the trunk of the rental, Pj went inside to check in while Emma grabbed her own bags as well.

Immediately upon the elevator doors opening, the two were greeted by a very anxious Marzia.

“Hey guys how’re you?” she said quietly, making Pj smile sadly at her behavior. He could understand that it had been really difficult for all of them.

Deciding that she may react a bit jumpily to any sudden movements, Pj outstretched his arms as an invitation to a hug. With a small sad smile of her own, Marzia squeezed him before turning to hug Emma.  Once their greetings were done, the trio stepped out of the elevator and into the hallway.

As they approached Marzia and Felix’s door, she let them know about the current situation

“Felix and Mark are picking _him_ up and neither Mark’s girlfriend nor friends know about anything.” Marzia muttered urgently before she forced a cheerful tone, knowing that Amy was right behind the door “Alright, I’ll let you two go unpack and I’ll let you know when Felix and Mark are back.”

Unlocking her door, Marzia stepped in and smiled at Amy who was sitting on the couch sipping her cup of tea. “Mark just texted me saying that they’ll be here in a little under ten minutes!” she said happily, smiling at her friend.

Marzia forced an admittedly shaky smile as she said “That’s great!” before turning to her tea.

Felix pulled up in front of the hotel and immediately that feeling of dread he already had increased. Since Mark had told him that Emma and Pj were there, that meant that they’d have to talk about it soon and he literally wanted nothing less than that.

Glancing over at Mark, similar feelings were displayed until he stamped a smile on his face and turned to Jack to offer help with his bags.

Taking a deep breath, Felix got out of the car and prepared himself for the inevitable fate of confronting the problem at hand.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anti watched as Jack unloaded his bags with the help of Mark. Feeling the unwelcome emotion of anxiety, Anti tried to keep calm and watch over his doppelganger. **_‘One mistake is all it could take’_** he thought to himself **_‘for him to know everything…’_**

 ** _‘Then I would need to take control’_** he thought, unable to stop himself from grinning as that thought crossed his mind.

..................................................................

Dark watched in minor amusement as Anti began to glitch more frequently. He was still analyzing Anti’s behavior in order to discern what certain things meant.

This skill usually came to him naturally but in Anti’s case, the constant glitching and mood swings made it harder to tell what he was feeling unless he spoke, and even then it was a bit of a struggle.

From what he could see, Dark mentally marked down this more frequent glitching as a form of displaying the dreadfully human emotion of anxiety.

It fascinated him as to why Anti felt certain things that he didn’t. Why was Anti more human when they were both demons?

 ~~“~~ ** _ ~~You and I both know that’s not entirely true”~~ _** a familiar voice spoke up.

It doesn’t really matter, after all Dark was planning on wiping away every last shred of that humanity over this time that they’d work together.

Refocusing his attention on Anti, Dark continued to observe and file away information for future reference

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack could sense a bit of tension in the air when he got in the car and had ignored it up until now but as they approached the hotel  the tension was becoming heavier and heavier until he felt like he may suffocate.

It got to the point where he felt obligated to ask if everything was okay. What was peculiar is that when he opened his mouth to do so he found himself unable to speak. Not because he was physically incapable all of a sudden, but because he just couldn’t bring himself to.

Brushing it off as odd, Jack continued to follow Mark and Felix into the hotel happily as he thought about how fun it would be to hang out all together again.


	12. Chapter 12

Anti looked over to Dark who was still staring at him and felt a bit anxious. All of them would be meeting up soon and he knew that something would have to be done then since it would be impossible to make Jack not remember anything once it had been mentioned directly by another person.

**_“So, Dark,”_** he began **_“Have we thought about what we’re gonna be doing about them all meeting up?”_**

Dark seemed to ponder this for a moment before he spoke **_“We have the blue haired one to help us if need be and you can take control and shove Jack into the back of your mind. He’ll just be stuck, unable to do anything, in the back of your head rather than you in the back of his, as it used to be.”_**

Anti felt a bit guilty for a moment about making somebody else experience the feeling of being stuck in one place, unable to move or do anything. Seeing his hesitance, Dark walked over and placed a hand on Anti’s shoulder. He leaned down and muttered something in his ear that Anti didn’t quite register before suddenly feeling completely weightless almost. Completely relived of any and all guilt that what he was doing to Jack was causing him.

Looking over to the demon, Dark smiled slightly, muttered something under his breath and then he moved back to the couch.

Yet deep down he knew why he had smiled at him like that. He knew something completely irreversible had taken place within him.

Something had changed. Something had… snapped.

Anti felt good. For the first time in a while he was as light as a feather, turning back to the screen he found himself waiting anxiously for the moment to take control.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mark and Felix walked into the elevator after Jack had checked in. The tension was becoming almost palatable yet Jack still seemed happy as a clam.

Mark really was becoming quite unsettled by the excessive joy that Jack seemed to carry with him. As if everything was absolutely fine. It wouldn’t be odd for normal Jack but after the experience they had all endured and remembering that he had escaped prison, he was having a hard time believing that his friend would return just like that.

Then again, no one seemed to remember Jack as anything but normal so-

His thoughts were cut off by the ding of the elevator arriving at their floor. The doors opened and Mark took a deep breath before stepping out into the hallway.

“I’ll meet up with you guys in a few minutes,” Jack said as he and Felix stepped out into the hallway, close behind Mark. “What room are we meeting up in?”

Felix looked at him oddly for a moment “What do you mean meeting up in?”

Jack stared at his friend for a moment before wondering what he had meant by that “I don’t know actually,” Jack said before chuckling awkwardly “I guess I just assumed we’d all meet up?”

Felix seemed to let it go after a moment of hesitation and quickly told him that they’d meet up in Mark’s hotel room before they left to go to that room and left Jack to go to his own.

Once Mark and Felix reentered the room, they were greeted by a paler than normal Ethan and a seemingly oblivious Tyler sitting next to him. The two were playing video games just as they had been when they’d left.

Felix looked to Mark and quickly whispered “I’ll go get Amy and Marzia, you make sure that these two are prepared for the fact that we’ll be having a talk with Jack”

Mark nodded in acknowledgment and Felix left the room. As soon as he had gone, Mark turned to his friends, who were now watching him, and waved. Sitting down in between the two, Mark was surprised to see Ethan jump a bit when he turned to look at him.

Confused at the reaction, Mark filed that information away for future reference. “So I can’t explain at this second,” Mark began nervously “but when Jack comes in here please keep your distance and just listen to what we all have to say, okay?”

Running his fingers through his hair anxiously, Mark waited for either a response or for everyone else to get there.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack put down his suitcase and sat down on the bed for a moment. Being alone was making him a bit anxious since last time he’s been alone there’d been that-

**_“Ringing noise?”_** a voice chimed in. Jack’s eyes widened and he looked around himself.

“Hello?” he asked to the supposedly empty room “Anyone there?”

Suddenly he felt as if someone had shoved him. Screaming in surprise, Jack flew to the floor. Trying to push himself up, Jack found himself unable to move at all.  

There was a knock on the door “It’s unlocked!” he heard his voice shout towards the door. Why couldn’t he control his own actions?  
His body sat up as if he’d just been sitting on the floor. When the door opened, Felix entered “Are you okay?” he said sounding nervous.

Why would he be nervous around him?

_Jack’s eyes opened and everyone went still. He glanced around at all of them and sat up._

_“Guys?” he said, voice a bit hoarse “What’s going on?”_

_Immediately, he could tell that they could tell, thankfully, that something was off._

_It was after a moment that he saw them collectively realize what it was._

_He was missing his normal eye and now there was only one mutated eye that was green with black liquid leaking from it and one gaping hole in his face where an eye used to be._

_As soon as he realized that everyone had noticed the missing eye, a sickening smirk that was far too wide for what the human face was capable of._

**_~~aNTI~~ _ ** _went to stand up at a speed fast as light only to be pushed back down by Pj._

**_~~aNTI~~ _ ** _turned his head and looked at him. For a moment it was silent but then the moment was broken by the laughter of ** ~~aNTI~~**._

_He raised an arm and the group watched in horror as a knife materialized in his hand. Frozen with shock, Pj couldn’t move out of the way in time and the group watched in horror as ** ~~aNTI~~ ** slashed the knife up Pj’s leg and then dug the knife in at his hip._

_His eyes widened and he rolled off of him, in too much pain to bother thinking of the consequences of that._

**_~~aNTI~~ _ ** _then once again shot up and his eyes scanned the room, locking in on Felix after a moment._

_Raising his knife, Felix prepared to fight but what he didn’t expect was for ** ~~aNTI~~** to pounce at Marzia instead._

_With that same sickening grin stretched across the stolen body, ** ~~aNTI~~** plunged his dagger into Marzia’s leg and sliced upwards, leaving a deep cut from her calf to her ankle._

_Once again, Felix watched and was unable to help as his girlfriend collapsed._

**_~~aNTI~~ _ ** _went to stab her once more but Felix stepped forward and once again prepared to fight._

**_~~aNTI~~ _ ** _smiled and gave a look of utter disbelief at Felix seeming so convinced that he could win against this demon._

_Just as Felix was about to charge, Mark stood up off the couch and picked up one of the knives that were on the coffee table and stepped forward._

_**“Ah, a real challenge.”** _ **_~~aNTI~~ _ ** _said gleefully_ _**“Greetings Markimoo.”** _

_Mark lowered his head before saying “Let’s get this over with, shall we?”_

_A moment of silence and then the two men charged at one another._

As snippets of these memories that just didn’t make sense washed over him, he felt himself regain control over his body.

Confused, Jack sat up and watched himself move his hand. Startled out of his daze by Felix offering him a hand to get up, Jack accepted it and the two left the room.


End file.
